The present invention relates to an electric contact terminal thermo-insertable onto a printed circuit card and to a connector having such terminals.
Electric connectors insertable by force onto a printed circuit card presently known comprise a connector body having a plurality of male or female contact terminals fixed to the body of the connector. Each contact terminal is extended at the base of the body of the connector by an insertable part. The assembly of corresponding parts of the contact terminals is intended to be inserted by force into corresponding metallised apertures of printed circuits in order to ensure corresponding electric contact and the mechanical retention of the assembly of the connector by terminal aperture interaction.
In this type of connector, the electric connection and the mechanical clamping are thus ensured by deformation of the contact terminal and/or of the printed circuit card at the corresponding aperture without the need for solder filling.
For this reason, the assembly of contact terminals of the connector and the printed circuit card are submitted to very significant stresses and frictions, during successive insertions and extractions of this type of connector, which bring about rapid deterioration of the metallisation of the apertures and the corresponding parts of the contact terminals.
Further, in the case of connectors having a large number of contact terminals, the insertion or extraction of these connectors necessitates the application of very significant global forces, which cannot be applied by means of known methods of insertion.